Harry Styles new album: 2017 release date, new songs, movie career and everything else you need to know

One Direction have spent the last five years making "a whole lot of history", but as the final scene in their last music video for some time showed, they're all about to embark on their own solo journeys.

Shortly after the management switch, it was announced that Harry had sorted himself out with his own publicity too. The 22-year-old has signed to Dawbell as a soloist. The agency deal with press for a range of pop acts, including Sir Paul McCartney, Take That and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Then there was his megabucks move to Columbia Records. It means Harry will stay within the Sony Music family, but at a reported cost to the label of $80 million (£60 million) for three albums. Analysts have concluded that he would have to sell 5 million albums for Sony to break even. No pressure, Hazza.

Despite sorting out the structure of his solo career rather swiftly, Digital Spy have learned that it's unlikely we'll get a debut album this year. Team Styles are eyeing up a 2017 rollout.

Does this mean the first taster of Harry's solo music is coming sooner than we were led to believe? Considering he's been interviewed by Paul McCartney for the piece, it could well suggest so.

Harry Styles new album: what will it sound like?

Speculation as to which direction (excuse the pun) Harry will head in has been the main talking point since 1D announced their hiatus. Anyone who listened to One Direction's music will know that Harry's voice always sounded best over a more rock and folk-tinged backdrop.

It'll come as little surprise then that Harry's collaborators come from a touring band background. First up is Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid. He has worked with Harry on no less than eight tracks. Considering Johnny's previous co-writing credits also include Ed Sheeran, expect some big chart-friendly anthems backed by plenty of guitar.

And Johnny genuinely couldn't be more excited about the material they came up with. "I'm really excited by the way he's sounding at the minute, he's such a talent. I think the world is going to be really shocked at what he comes up with," he said in May 2016.

On four of those tracks, though, Gary Go is also listed as a co-writer. The British producer is well known for working with some of pop's biggest names, including Rihanna, Take That and Kylie Minogue. The song titles we know from those sessions are 'Already Home', 'Coco', 'Endlessly', and '5378 Miles'.

While Harry Styles has over 40 songs listed on ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), many are for the tracks he's written for One Direction or other artists like Ariana Grande. What makes the above four so different, is that they are the first song titles to be registered under Harry Styles as a solo performer.

Then there are the studio sessions Harry had with Irish band Kodaline way back in 2014. "We had a bit of free time and so we went to the studio and wrote a song. It was good fun," frontman Steve Garrigan told Digital Spy at the time. Vinny May added: "It could be on his album if he does something, but I don't know." Lyrics from the track - titled 'Make It Feel Right' - surfaced online over a year later, but we've yet to hear it.

While Harry same remained pretty zipped on what fans can expect from his new music, we've had to rely on Robbie Williams to let a few secrets out of the bag. The British singer revealed that, after bumping into Hazza at an airport, he found out that the former 1D star has been working with both Bruno Mars and Max Martin.

The former is very exciting considering the throwback soul and funk of his own latest album 24K Magic. Harry could very much be taking the Uptown Hunk route. As for Max Martin, the Swedish pop guru has worked with everyone from Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, to The Weeknd and Justin Timberlake, so we have no doubt he'll be contributing more than a few bangers to Harry's debut set.

Getty ImagesKevin Mazur

There's also the possibility that Harry has recorded a romantic duet for his solo debut. That's at least according to chart-topping star Meghan Trainor, who co-wrote a track with the 1D heartthrob last year. "It's real! It's a duet. It's a beautiful song we wrote together on my ukulele," the 'All About That Bass' singer said. "We even recorded a rough demo together with our vocals together. It's a cute acoustic love thing."

And finally, Harry has also been in the studio with hit-maker and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder, who has written massive hits for the likes of Adele and Beyoncé. "We've done a couple of things, I have no idea what they're for. I don't know if he's doing an album, I truthfully don't," he told Key 103. "You know, he's a phenomenally talented writer. You know they say you can't judge a book by its cover, but clearly the man has taste in a number of areas and that also is true with writing," he added. "He's just a chill guy. I don't think I've met anyone with that level of fame that is that unaffected by it."

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But will Harry do a Timberlake and head to Hollywood?

While Harry will obviously be working towards putting out the best solo debut record he can, his mind is not totally focussed on one thing. That's right, Hazza is about to 'do a Justin Timberlake' and make it big in Hollywood too.

Production on the World War II drama began in May 2016 and wrapped up by the end of the summer. Styles will be a young man caught up in the evacuation of the French city of Dunkirk as a fierce battle between the Allies and Nazi Germany is waged. Oh, and he had to cut off his famous locks for the part too. The first look is below for you.

Moreover, since filming Dunkirk, Harry has been linked to another Hollywood role. This one would see him play Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in new biopic Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hellwith the Rolling Stones.

The movie will chronicle the band's 1972 double album Exile on Main Street, which they recorded in France during a notoriously hedonistic summer. It's based on a book by Robert Greenfield, and will be directed by Andy Goddard (Set Fire to the Stars).

So there you have it: as well as the anticipation for Harry's debut solo album, we can all look forward to his big screen invasion too.

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